The present Invention relates to a new and distinct cultivar of Hydrangea plant, botanically known as Hydrangea paniculata, and hereinafter referred to by the cultivar name Limelight.
The new Hydrangea is a product of a breeding program conducted by the Inventor in Boskoop, The Netherlands. The objective of the breeding program was to create new Hydrangea cultivars with unique flower coloration.
The new Hydrangea originated from a cross by the Inventor of two unidentified selections of Hydrangea paniculata, not patented. The cultivar Limelight was discovered and selected by the Inventor in the 1986 as a single plant within the progeny of the stated cross in a controlled environment in Boskoop, The Netherlands. The new Hydrangea differs from the parent selections in sepal coloration and flower size.
Asexual reproduction of the new cultivar by softwood cuttings taken at Boskoop, The Netherlands, since 1986, has shown that the unique features of this new Hydrangea are stable and reproduced true to type in successive generations.
Plants of the cultivar Limelight have not been observed under all possible environmental conditions. The phenotype may vary somewhat with variations in environment such as temperature, light intensity, daylength, irrigation amount and frequency, and fertilizer type and rate without, however, any variance in genotype.
The following traits have been repeatedly observed and are determined to be the unique characteristics of xe2x80x98Limelightxe2x80x99. These characteristics in combination distinguish xe2x80x98Limelightxe2x80x99 as a new and distinct cultivar:
1. Upright flower panicles on strong peduncles with numerous flowers per panicle.
2. Unique light green-colored sepals.
3. Large calyces.
4. Relatively early flowering.
Plants of the new Hydrangea can be compared to plants of the Hydrangea paniculata cultivar Grandiflora, not patented. In side-by-side comparisons conducted in Grand Haven, Mich., plants of the new Hydrangea differ from plants of the cultivar Grandiflora in the following characteristics:
1. Sepal color of the new Hydrangea is light green whereas sepal color of the cultivar Grandiflora is white.
2. Sepals of the new Hydrangea are larger than sepals of the cultivar Grandiflora.
3. Panicles of the new Hydrangea are more upright than panicles of the cultivar Grandiflora.
4. Plants of the new Hydrangea start flowering about one month earlier than plants of the cultivar Grandiflora.